Working Class

Fracking Boom Takes Toll On Pennsylvania’s Communities Of Color And Lower-Income Areas

June 23, 2018 Mark Hand, Thinkprogress.org Educate! Fracking, Pennsylvania, Racism, Segregation, Working Class

The construction of new natural gas-fired power plants in Pennsylvania is disproportionately harming lower-income populations in rural parts of the state, while communities of color are substantially more likely to live near existing gas-powered plants in the state, according to a new report. Released Wednesday by Food & Water Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental advocacy group, the report paints an alarming picture of what the dramatic growth in natural gas production in Pennsylvania means for disadvantaged communities, both urban and rural, that are more likely than ever to host the industry’s rapid expansion of drilling and power plants in the state. People of color make up 30 percent or more of the population in nearly 25 percent of Pennsylvania census tracts but make up nearly half of the census tracts within a three-mile footprint of an existing fossil fuel power plant.

Re-Centering Anti-War And Anti-Imperialism As Working Class Issues

May 2, 2018 Black Alliance for Peace. Organize! Anti-Imperialism, Anti-War, May Day, Working Class

Today is the day that the multi-national, multi-racial working classes express solidarity with all those who labor, who have nothing but their labor power to sell in order to eke out a living for themselves and their families. Today, workers from all nations, races, genders and nationalities proclaim that – despite differences – there are common interests that bind us and can serve as a basis for a common political stance and program of liberation from the ravages of capitalist exploitation and great power domination.

Day 3 Of Countdown To Launch: Mani Martinez

December 8, 2017 Mani Martinez, www.PopularResistance Organize! Anti-capitalism, Immigrant Rights, Racism, Working Class

By Mani Martinez for Popular Resistance. Because I am involved in putting up a great deal of the articles that are on Popular Resistance, my scope of political issues has been incredibly broadened. I think corporate art, culture, and media outlets rely on segregating the information that people receive in their respective corners of the world. That maintains the necessary division amongst the working class, without which the capitalist class can’t rule. Our platform at Popular Resistance, therefore makes a great attempt at promoting working class unity by highlighting the importance of all political struggle against capitalism!

IWW Miners Of Jerome & Bisbee Loaded Into Cattle Cars & Deported From State Of Arizona

July 18, 2017 Janet Raye, www.weneverforget.org Resist! Arizona, Deportations, Mining, Working Class

By Janet Raye for We Never Forget - The above photograph shows more than 1000 working class men, mostly members of the Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union of the Industrial Workers of the World, being loaded into cattle cars in Bisbee, Arizona, July 12th, for the purpose of being deported from the state of Arizona. The men were force to stand in manure and left without food and water for hours until they were hauled across the state line and into New Mexico. More than 1000 men were left stranded in the desert near Hermanas, New Mexico. The sixty-seven men deported from Jerome were taken across the state line and left at Needles, California.

Why Net Neutrality Is A Working-Class Issue

July 18, 2017 Bryan Mercer, www.inthesetimes.com Strategize! FCC, Internet, Net Neutrality, Protests, Working Class

By Bryan Mercer for In These Times - You might have noticed your browsing experience was interrupted by a call-to-action on Wednesday, July 12. Amazon, Netflix, Etsy, OKCupid and hundreds of other sites covered their loading pages with banners and images asking you to save the internet. Millions of us joined together to protest the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), heeding the call from grassroots activists across all corners of the web. Led by President Donald Trump appointee Ajit Pai, the FCC is working to roll back rules that ensure the free and open flow of information on the internet. The body is attempting to undo the partial classification of the internet as a utility (meaning something every person has the right to have), and to massively expand the rights of Big Cable to lie about speeds and other services in order to make huge profits. These efforts pose a threat to net neutrality, the principle at the foundation of the internet that internet service providers treat all traffic equally. Net neutrality supports the open and free flow of information—without discrimination and without favoring content or services. Make no mistake: Net neutrality is one of the defining workers’ rights and civil rights issue of our time. We all know the internet is driving changes in culture, politics and the economy. It is also one of the key spaces where workers can organize—and where mass movements for racial and economic justice blossom and build power.

Redneck Revolt Builds Anti-Racist Working Class White Movement

June 22, 2017 Jared Ware, www.shadowproof.com Resist! Racism, Working Class

By Jared Ware for Shadow Proof - In the infancy of the Trump presidency, a new community defense network is espousing anti-racist and anti-capitalist politics to build coalitions in cities, small towns, and rural areas across America. Redneck Revolt recruits predominantly poor and working class white people away from reactionary politics. The organization advances an analysis of their class condition and white supremacy’s role in upholding the wealth and privilege of a small, white elite. Redneck Revolt inserts themselves into overwhelmingly white spaces—NASCAR races, gun shows, flea markets in rural communities, and country music concerts—to offer a meaningful alternative to the white supremacist groups who often also recruit in those spaces. The organization’s growing membership comes as media pundits, the Democratic Party, and the United States’ relatively small socialist parties all grapple with how to address the plight of working class white Americans in the wake of Donald Trump’s election. “Economic anxiety,” a term presented by the media to defend Trump’s ascension, has become an internet meme for acts of racial terror. Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance has been paraded around to defend and mythologize the travails of working class white Republican voters.

Here To Stay: Immigrant Workers Demand Justice, Respect On May Day

May 3, 2017 Anne Meador and John Zangas, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Class Struggle, Immigration, May Day, Undocumented, Workers, Working Class

By Anne Meador and John Zangas for DC Media Group - Thousands of people marched in the streets of Washington, DC to celebrate May Day, the holiday often known as International Workers’ Day, with defiant calls for a living wage, benefits, and safe working conditions. In light of President Trump’s assault on immigrants and refugees, the rallies and marches also became protests against refugee bans, deportations and raids on immigrant communities. Crowds filled Dupont Circle, Malcolm X Park, Freedom Plaza, and Courthouse in Arlington, then converged into marches to the White House. American flags mingled with Mexican flags and bright red socialist flags. Many of the large number of Hispanic participants were immigrants from Mexico and Central American countries, and, in spite of risks, even undocumented immigrants were present and vocal. While some might expect recent Trump initiatives, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and efforts to build a wall on the border of Mexico, to intimidate those born in another country, there was an unmistakable tone of defiance in every speech, chant and sign. “No papers, no fear!” they cried. Some signs advertised the hashtag #heretostay.

Heavily Armed Left-Wing Group Shows Up At Pro-Trump Rally

April 1, 2017 Jacob Steinblatt, www.vocativ.com Resist! Class Struggle, Donald Trump, Protests, Rally, Working Class

By Jacob Steinblatt for Vocativ - A heavily armed left-wing group, the John Brown Gun Club, made a surprise appearance over the weekend at a pro-Trump rally being held in Phoenix, Arizona with a conciliatory message for supporters of the president. About two dozen men and women armed with a variety of rifles stood beside the march in downtown Phoenix, in order to both show their opposition to the Trump administration and its policies, and to appeal to supporters of President Trump as fellow members of the working class. The group describes itself as largely white and working class, with the ultimate goal of “total liberation of all working people, regardless of skin color, religious background, sexual orientation, gender identity, [or] nationality.”

Brown: Neighbors Joining Together To Block Trump Deportations

February 20, 2017 Mark Brown, www.http://chicago.suntimes.com/ Resist! Deportations, Donald Trump, Multiracial Unity, Working Class

By Mark Brown for Chicago Sun Times -In neighborhoods across Chicago with large immigrant populations, people are banding together to form rapid response networks to support their neighbors in the event of expected deportation raids by President Donald Trump’s administration. In the 35th Ward on the city’s Northwest Side, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa has started what he calls the Community Defense Committee. In Rogers Park, home to an extremely diverse immigrant population, volunteer organizers have chosen to dub their effort Protect RP. In Little Village, the Mexican capital of the Midwest, they have picked the name La Villita Se Defiende, which translates to Little Village Defends Itself. As with the different names, each group seems to be charting its own tactical approach, but the overarching goal is the same: to protect undocumented immigrants by resisting efforts to deport them.

Don’t Shame The First Steps Of A Resistance

January 25, 2017 Staff, www.socialistworker.org Strategize! Multiracial Unity, Resistance, Working Class

By Staff of Socialist Worker - THE UNITED States has just experienced a corporate hijacking. If Trump's inaugural speech did not alert you to the fact that they intend to come after all of us, then you are not paying attention. The scale of the attack is as deep as it is wide, and this means that we will need a mass movement to confront it. To organize such a movement necessarily means that it will involve the previously uninitiated--those who are new to activism and organizing. We have to welcome those people and stop the arrogant and moralistic chastising of anyone who is not as "woke." The women's marches in Washington, D.C., and around the country were stunning, inspiring and the first of a million steps that will be needed to build the resistance to Trump.

Retirement Divide: 100 CEOs v. The Rest Of Us

January 20, 2017 Sarah Anderson, www.ips-dc.org Educate! Inequality, Ruling Class, Working Class

By Sarah Anderson for IPS-DC - A new report calculates the gap in retirement assets between the top 100 CEOs and all African-American, Latino, female-headed, and white working class households. (Washington, D.C. ) – The presidential election put a spotlight on the economic insecurity millions of voters are feeling as the result of the loss of millions of unionized factory jobs that were once a major source of both decent pay and retirement benefits. While white working class families have been the focus of much of this attention, a new Institute for Policy Studies report shows that the real retirement security divide lies between those at the top of corporate America and nearly all the rest of us.

Retirement Divide: 100 CEOs V. The Rest Of Us

December 19, 2016 Sarah Anderson, www.ips-dc.org Educate! Capitalism, CEO, Retirement, Ruling Class, Working Class

By Sarah Anderson for IPS - If President-elect Donald Trump succeeds in cutting the top marginal tax rate from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, Fortune 500 CEOs would save $196 million on the income taxes they would owe if they withdrew their tax-deferred funds. Unlike ordinary 401(k) holders, most top CEOs have no limits on annual contributions to their tax-deferred accounts. In 2015 alone, Fortune 500 CEOs saved $92 million on their taxes by putting $238 million more in these accounts than they could have if they were subject to the same rules as other workers.

International Multiracial Working Class To Trump: Waking Up A Sleeping Giant

November 11, 2016 Staff, www.www.popularesistance.org Resist! 2016 Elections, Capitalism, Donald Trump, Working Class

By Staff of Popular Resistance - Trump coming into office is a road out of other roads not taken. As a result, the veil has been lifted from more and more of us who have been made to live in fear and anxiety. It has taken us out from living our lives through snapchat or Love and Hip Hop in order to confront real life. It has impacted those of us who perhaps deep down inside would have been a little relieved if Hillary Clinton got elected. This road has disrupted the enchantment of somehow feeling accomplished for doing the most in terms of political contribution via voting when actually that should be the least.

Free People From ‘Dictatorship’ Of 0.01%

August 11, 2016 Vandana Shiva, www.asianage.com Resist! Dictatorship, Ruling Class, Working Class

By Vandana Shiva for The Asian Age - The only way to counter globalisation just a plot of land in some central place, keep it covered in grass, let there be a single tree, even a wild tree.” This is how dear friend and eminent writer Mahasweta Devi, who passed away on July 28, at the age of 90, quietly laid out her imagination for freedom in our times of corporate globalisation in one of her last talks. Our freedoms, she reminds us, are with grass and trees, with wildness and self-organisation (swaraj), when the dominant economic systems would tear down every tree and round up the last blade of grass.

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